Shadowcaster: The Wereboar and the Spiders

This doesn't look like a mine, it looks like the interior of some building. Why is this the end of some mine passage? Why did someone leave a bomb here?

Perhaps I should have taken a closer shot of him

We've got some kind of little fellows running around. They don't seem eager to kill me, so they may live. Hopefully their AI isn't stupid enough to get in front of me in a fight.

The guy who did the humanoid sprites in this is really good

The foretold wereboars. They're to big to fit into this passage. They eat up a lot of physical damage. Too much. The bombs are quite effective and there are many around.

I thus proceed with a mix of using the Opsis and the bombs. With copious amounts of resting. If this game wasn't fun in-between these parts...

It seems that the wereboars are interested in killing the little fellows, and the little fellows are interested in getting away. Unfortunately, this one died. Given the amount of Opsis magic I'm using, maybe the sword is a better option?

That's a maybe? I guess that's helpful in an emergency.

I'm like the Top Gear cameramen during a safari

There's something funny about how they just run around behind a closed door. Shooters rarely let you cheese this way.

Before I venture forth, I clear out the rest of the area. The central column here just has a couple of the little fellows. There are two other pathways, which just lead into storage rooms with no purpose. Why are they there? There's no other exit? Maybe someone teleports them out? Huh.

I'm up to three wereboars per mana bar. Still doesn't change how fast my mana refills. At this point, I check to see if the cluebook is on the internet. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've already won this thing, might as well make this time easier on myself. And it does. My health fills up before I get a chance to read it, however.

Toxic mushrooms. That feels cliche, but I have to admit, I can't think of anything other than Sword of Vermillion that has one. Or, I'm sorry, "Shroom". That's what the cluebook calls them. The wereboars are "Slave Drivers". The little fellows seem to actually be Cauns, but the guide calls them "Slaves". It also states that they were kept as slaves because of their regeneration; They could take the lashings and the explosions. This is some dark stuff. This is actually vital to the plot of this game.

Oh...my...this is going to be fun. Wait, this is generous. There's going to be a fight soon. But first, an amulet of defense randomly on the ground. That's...huh. On further research, this might be the wereboar lord. Tough fight.

After clearing out a final driver, I find a tree. The lever in from of it makes it grow some red and blue fruit. These regenerate health and mana respectively. Behind it, a portal. Does it leave to a different part of the level? It might, I have no other paths and there's more to this level. Might lead to another level.

Its dark in here. Ow, I'm getting hit. Spiders? Fine. Staby time...I'm not hitting them. They're dodging my attacks. What the hell? Oh, don't tell me I have to use the Caun here...

Well, it takes me a few tries, but I figure out that the crystal of light is actually useful. The spiders are extremely resistant to physical damage, but once again the Opsis turns out to be of value. Now there are there crystals. There are quite a few and I don't have much spare inventory. Oh...good...
Now, I didn't mind all this when I was fighting against the wereboars, but spiders? Resting after every fight with spiders? This isn't Lord of the Rings where there's an evil spider...god? Shelob is the daughter of some spider god. Spider goddess. Probably not lore accurate. Now, how about these tiny unkillable spiders?

Moving forward, I decide to do something radical, use these wands on the spiders. You know what? It works out rather well. The little spiders take like 2 shots to take out. I leisurely take a stroll through the level at this point. Passing by an acid pit, which has a green crystal and a mana charger on the other side.

Big spiders. No point in using the wands on these fellows. That puts me back to where I was at the beginning of this level, using up all my mana on a single encounter. At least this time I can skip across acid to regenerate. I could fly over it, couldn't I? Man...

So, in some rough order, I do these things:

• Go back to the start and pick up the other shuriken. The Caun will probably need it later.
• Get lost.
• Fight two giant spiders guarding health potions.
• See a few somethings wrapped up in cacoons.
• Questioning if the designer of this level was competent during the time he made this or cackling with glee.

After one more spider encounter, the level breaks way to the shrooms. Lots of shrooms. Not much to say there. One thing, uh, questionable about the design of this game is that the cluebook seems to have the story of the game. This level with the spiders is where the Caun resistance against the Dark One and Veste happened. They came down here to get away from the wereboars, who couldn't sneak past the spiders. Only, the Dark One cast magic down here that turned the water to poison, and the spiders grew. The resistance was eventually consumed by the spiders. This stuff is great. Seriously, the cluebook is incredible, even excepting the use of it as a guide.

One of the rooms is filled with weapons. The game is getting REALLY generous with these. I have like six different wands right now. I'm running out of space, and that's with generously using mana restoring items.
The caves give way to something...I don't know what to call this room outside of trap. Floating mines. Fireballs shooting across the corridors. Fortunately, there is cover, only afterward, there's another acid pit. Its more less complex than it looks. To the left, there's a obelisk cap, to the front, there's the obelisk. The reward?

The Kapha form, which is a fish thing. The next level? Sealevel. I hope the boss is more interesting there. I was saving the Staff of Power for him. Oh, well...